The Emperor Trajan said to Rabbi Joshua, "You teach that your
God is everywhere. I should like to see Him." The Rabbi replied,
"God's presence is everywhere, but He cannot be seen. No mortal
eye can behold His glory." The Emperor insisted, however, and
so the Rabbi said, "Let us begin then by first looking at one of his
servants. The Emperor consented to this, and so followed the
Rabbi out into the open. "Now," said the Rabbi, "Gaze into the
splendor of the sun." "I cannot," said the Emperor, "The light
dazzles me." The Rabbi responded, "Thou art unable to endure
the light of one of his servants, and canst thou expect to behold
the resplendent glory of the Creator. Would not such a light
annihilate thee?"
The Jews had a higher concept of God than all ancient peoples,
because God revealed Himself to them as a God of glory, light,
and splendor. The Old Testament has many descriptions of God
like that given in Hab. 3:3-4. "His glory covered the heavens, and
His praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sun rise;
rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden." It
was because of this knowledge of the glory of God that the Jews
were an optimistic people. A man's character is determined
largely by the character of the God he worships. If one worships
a god who is a tyrant, and unpredictable, and without mercy, but
cruel, it is not likely he will be a man of flaming joy. Luther lived
for years with a false concept of God, and as a result, lived in fear
and dread. Most religions have had such a dark concept of God
that the followers of these religions seldom knew what it was to be
truly joyful and at peace.
Many ancient peoples, and peoples yet today, whose god's are
made in the image of man, and are only depraved supermen,
cruel and immoral, are no more optimistic than the materialist
who says, "I feel the universe is one huge, dead, immeasurable
steam engine, rolling on in its dead indifference to grind us limb
from limb." You can't expect persons like that to be bursting
with optimism, and bubbling with joy. On the other hand, when
people have the concept of God as He is revealed in Scripture, it
leads to optimism and joy. This was true in the Old Testament,
even before God fully revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.
The Jews began their day at sundown, rather than at sunup.
All their festivals and holidays begin at night, and their Sabbath
also begins at night. All of this was to symbolize their optimism
and confidence in the God of light. Anyone can have confidence
in the day, and look forward to a bright day when the sun rises,
but the Jews began their rejoicing as the sun sank to symbolize
their confidence that even in the darkness light will prevail, and a
new day will dawn. Tomorrow always comes for the believer.
Even death cannot change that. Such was the attitude of the Jews
who had only a shadow of the full revelation yet to come. How
much greater ought our joy and optimism to be who stand in the
full light? Paul in II Cor. 4:6 writes, "For God, who said, 'Let
light shine out of darkness,' made His light shine in our hearts to
give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ." We have a message as superior to the Old Testament, as it was
to the pagan darkness surrounding it. That is why John, after
stating that his purpose for writing this book was that the joy of
believers might be full, immediately announces the truth on which
all Christian joy is based, which is the truth that God is light.
This morning we want to examine this primary message and its
meaning. First let's look at the message itself.
I. THE MESSAGE.
John has built us up to a point of
expectation. He has made great statements of his aim to share
with us truths that will lead to fullness of fellowship, and fullness
of joy. We ought to be standing on our tiptoes breathlessly
longing to see what it is he is going to declare. In verse 5, after
this stimulating introduction, John says, this is it! Here it is! This
is the message that we have received, and now pass it on to you.
This is no matter of speculation and theory, this is the message we
have heard from Christ Himself, and now declare to you, and that
message is, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. We see a
positive and negative side to this message.
A. Positive-God is light. This is the strongest statement in the
whole Bible about Gods nature as light. Many text describe the
splendor of God, and the light of His presence, and that He dwells
in light unapproachable, and that He is the author of all light, but
here alone do we find the statement that God is light. Nothing
stronger can be said. This is as far as human language can go in
relating God and light. God is light. Light is of the very essence
of God's nature.
It is important, however, that we recognize that this is not the
whole truth about God's nature. It is but one aspect of what He
is. John will tell us He is also Law, Life, and Love, and
underneath all of these is the foundational fact that He is
personal. Light is impersonal, and if this was our main concept of
God, we would have only a God who was a great impersonal
source of all energy-a Divine Dynamo.
We must ever keep in mind that light and love, and all other
attributes of God are attributes of a Person. This means, it is God
who is light, and not light that is God.
This was the mistake of many people who began to worship the
creation rather than the Creator. They worshipped the sun,
moon, and stars, for they reversed the truth and said, light is God.
This is false. The light of the sun is not God, and the light of all
other bodies is not God. God as light is the ultimate source of all
light, but He is not that light. All physical light is from God, and
is a symbol of what He is in Himself.
All physical reality is what it is because God is what He is.
Science can tell us what the sun does, and how it is the source of
all life on earth, but it is the Bible that tells us why this is so. It is
so because God is light. His creation resembles His nature. The
universe is a symbol of what God is. It is not God, but is made by
God, and is separate from Him, but it is an expression of what He
is. This is why all life depends on light, for all life depends on
God, and God is light. This is why the earth revolves around the
sun which is the source of all life, because only as men put God
into the center of their lives, and revolve around Him, will they
have light and life.
All of this is simply saying God has made the universe, and
physical light, as a pattern of what is true in the spiritual realm.
God is in the spiritual realm what the sun is in the physical realm.
He is the source of all light and life. As light is the absolute in
science, so God is the absolute in the spiritual realm.
Thou art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from Thee;
Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are Thine.
The very first thing that God called good was light. In Gen.
1:4 God saw that the light was good. It was His first stroke of the
brush on the canvas of reality, and it was a masterpiece already.
God did not make anything in the dark. He began His project of
creation just as we usually begin ours, by turning on the light.
Light is the link between the Creator and creation. Light is part
of the nature of God, and it is the foundation of all that God has
made. When you study light, you are into both science and
theology. Many of the great scientists have known this. They
have seen that life is dependent on light, and that the Creator of
life had to be a God of light.
Dr. Michael Pupin, the great inventor, philosopher, and
teacher, got his start in scientific research by watching the stars
as a shepherd boy in the Hungarian hills.
All his life, as he studied light, he was devoted to the God of light.
He wrote,
"I found in the light of stars a heavenly language which proclaims
the glory of God. Each burning star is a focus of energy, of
life-giving activity which it pours out lavishly into every direction;
it pours out the life of its own heart, in order to beget new life.
What a vista that opens to our imagination! What new beauties
are disclosed in the words of Genesis: 'God...breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.' The
light of the stars is a part of the life-giving breath of God. I never
look now upon the starlit vault of heaven without feeling this
divine breath and its quickening action upon my soul.
Kepler, after discovering the laws that govern the speeds of the
planets, prayed, "Dear Lord, who hast guided us to the light of
Thy glory by the light of nature, thanks be Thee. Behold, I have
completed the work to which Thou hast called me, and I rejoice in
the creation whose wonder thou hast given me to reveal unto men.
Amen."
The power of life is in light, and without light life cannot
continue. We could get into biology here, but man's new
discovery of the power of light is more fascinating. Albert
Einstein back in 1905 wrote a paper on light that won him the
Nobel Prize. In it he proved that light is both a wave and a
particle, and so light is a paradox, and has the freedom to be
different things in different experiments. He predicted then that
man would be able to some day use light in a very intense and
focused ray. In 1960 Dr. Theodore Maiman made and used the
first laser, and since this, many new lasers have been developed
for doing what man could never do before. Now, by the power of
light, the life of man is being radically changed. In our life-time
light has changed almost every facet of our lives.
The books I checked out to study light were checked out by
means of a laser light. The groceries we purchase are read by a
laser light. Laser light can cut steel and even diamonds. Lasers
are used for eye surgery, so that those who once would be blind
are now made to see. Miracles that Jesus did as the light of the
world are now being done by light, which also has Him as its
author and creator. The military uses lasers in missals and other
weapons. The whole security systems of the world depend on
lasers. Laser optical discs can hold the entire Encyclopedia
Britannica on one side. There seems to be no end to the power
and blessings that man is finding in the power of light. If God
lets history go on, man will create a whole new world by the
power of light. And if God ends history soon, the result will be
the same, for in eternity we will dwell with God in that city filled
with the light of His presence. However the story of history goes,
we can be optimists as Christians, for we are heading for the light.
Georgia Harkness wrote,
Our light grows dim, the air is thick with gloom,
And everywhere men's souls are crushed with fears.
Yet high above the carnage and the gloom
The call resounds across the teeming years,
Lift high Christ's cross! Serve God and trust His might!
I do believe the world is swinging toward the light.
Light is not only the coming thing, because Jesus, the light, is
coming, but He is already here, and says in John 8:12, "I am the
light of the world: He who follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life." Gilchrist Lawson wrote,
The one who made the earthly sun
So full of power of warmth and might,
Can cause the Sun of Righteousness
To bathe the soul in floods of light.
The greatest changes in life are always based on what man
does with his physical or spiritual light. Jesus was the light that
lightens every man said John. He was and is the light of the
world. He was and is the source of life that is eternal, for all life
needs light, and He is the only light that can never be put out, and
so He is the only source of eternal life.
Light that we see is self revealing. One does not need to light a
match to see if his flashlight is on. But all men are blind to most
of the light God has made a part of reality. We see only the six
colors of the rainbow which is white light divided up into its six
different wave lengths. But this is a mere fraction of light. There
are cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet rays, infrared
rays, television, radar, short wave, standard and long radio
waves, and long electric waves. These ten different categories of
light we cannot see. But man has learned how to use these
invisible sources of light to do wonders in life. So the challenge of
the Christian life is to recognize there is great power available in
the realm of the invisible. Paul says in II Cor. 4:18, "So we fix
our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." There is power for
life abundant in the light of Christ's unseen presence, and in the
light of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. We need to
pray,
Light of the world, illumine this darkened earth of Thine,
Till everything that's human be filled with the Divine.
There is no physical factor in all reality that can better be used
as a symbol of the nature of God, than light, for as Alford, the
Greek scholar said, "It unites in itself purity, and cleanness, and
beauty, and glory, as no other material object does." Light is the
most spiritual of all the things we know in the realm of the
physical. The more we know about light and its blessings, the
more we will understand the glory and splendor of God, who is
light, and the source of all lights.
Then John adds to his positive message a statement which is-
B. Negative-in Him is no darkness at all. The Greek here is
very emphatic. There is a double negative here, which is
permitted in Greek, and would sound like this in English, "There
is not none at all." This is the concept that is the basis for a
common bond among believers, and is the basis for much joy.
The positive without his strong negative would not distinguish
Christianity from the Gnostics and many other false religions.
The Gnostics, like the ancient Persians, had a dualism in their
concept of deity, in which, there was both light and darkness in
God. Many others have also had concepts of God which while
recognizing Him to be glorious, also attributed to Him much evil.
The Christian revelation rises to the heights of a God who is
absolutely pure, and is not the origin of any evil.
This becomes the basis for our fullness of joy, for the God and
Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is light without
darkness. Even the sun has spots, but not our God, for He is
perfect light, and the source of all good, but no evil. Any idea of
God that implies He is the source of evil is inconsistent with the
New Testament revelation. E. S. Jones tells the story of the little
girl who was playing with a friend when a cloud came up and
covered the Sun. She looked up and said, "That mean old God
again, always spoiling our fun." The mother heard it and that
night she told the father. He was shocked and did not understand
where in the world she would get such a concept of God. They
punished her by making her say her prayers ten times. Imagine,
prayers being made as a punishment, and yet they wondered
where she got her concept of a cruel God. Parents may in many
ways convey to their children concepts of God that include spots
and shadows of darkness. This message of John must be our
guide. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
We need the light of God to guide us so that we do not blot His
image with the darkness of our own ignorance and faulty faith.
Let our prayer be that of Constance Milman.
Lord send thy light,
Not only in the darkest night,
But in the shadows, dim twilight,
Wherein my strained and aching sight
Can scarce distinguish wrong from right,
Then send thy light.
The light of God is known by the fact that in it is no darkness
at all. Satan himself can appear as an angel of light, and the
world uses light to glorify all its evil, but we need not be seduced
by these false lights if we keep this absolute negative in mind-no
darkness at all. Wordsworth put it, "But ne'er to a seductive lay,
let faith be given. Nor deem that light which leads astray, is light
from heaven." This then, is the message that is essential to
making our fellowship unique and joy complete. Now, let us
consider some further meanings contained in this message.
II. THE MEANINGS.
A message like this is filled with more
meaning than we can begin to comprehend. To say that God is
light sheds more light on His nature than we have eyes to see, but
what we can see is important to look at. The first thing we want
to look at is-
A. The Ethical Meaning.
This is really the primary meaning that John is conveying in
this context. God is absolutely pure. God is righteousness, and in
Him is no sin at all. That is why John goes on to say, "If we say
we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness we are liars,"
for God cannot fellowship with men who walk in darkness. He is
light, and light has nothing in common with darkness, and,
therefore, fellowship is impossible. A man living in sin can no
more walk with God than fire and gasoline can have fellowship
together. God is absolutely ethically pure, and that is why
Christians must constantly confess their sins and be cleansed by
the blood of Christ, for it is the only way we can truly have
fellowship with God.
In this context John makes clear there are two ways of
thinking that are false, and lead to false living. One is to imply
that there is any sin in God, and two is to deny that there is sin in
man. The Christian must be clear on both points. God is light,
and is pure, with no darkness at all, but no man, except he who
was God incarnate, and the light of the world, is totally pure, and
without some degree of darkness due to sin. Christian ethical
thinking must be based on these two truths. The Gnostics denied
them, and the result was all kinds of unethical and immoral conduct.
Let this principle be a guide. God is far more than we can
think, but He is never less than what we can think. This means, if
you can think of a higher concept of God than the one you now
have, the one you now have is a false concept. God can never be
less than the highest you can conceive. Whenever men talk about
God, you can know if they speak of the true God, or one of their
own making, by simply asking, is the God they speak of the
highest and purest that man can conceive. If the God they speak
of cannot measure up to this standard, he is not the God who is
light, and in whom is no darkness at all.
B. The Intellectual Meaning.
When we say a person has seen the light, we mean the truth
has been grasped by the mind. Light and truth are often
synonymous. This could be paraphrased, God is truth and in
Him is no error at all. It means, not only that God is absolutely
pure, but He is also absolutely wise. This is again a basis for
great joy, for the believer. He has a resource like no other. Jesus
said the Holy Spirit would lead His disciples into all truth. He can
do this, for as light, He knows all truth.
All our knowledge, sense, and sight
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded.
Til Thy Spirit brakes our night,
With the beams of truth unclouded.
There is much more meaning in this message-the theological,
biological, emotional, but we can't cover them all. What we have
looked at, however, ought to make it clear how great a message
this is, and how a deeper understanding of it will lead to a greater
fellowship and joy in the believers life. Praise God for who He is,
for God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
